Monk 最近的评测

With the steam release, I thought it would be fun to venture back into SAGA. I played this game a ton after it came out a long time ago. I've hundreds of hours of play logged back then, but it has been many years since my last login. But since it's on steam...

Anyhow, I digress...

What is SAGA. It's a mmorts, though you can play it mostly single player, or coop, or PVP, or do tournaments or whatever. You basically build up a city, build an army, train your troops, get epic loot, trade for new troops, join guilds, etc. All the standard MMO stuff, but with your "character" being a city and armies. Each player has their own plot of land on some nebulous world (you can't see who is adjacent to you or anything) and you can expand your land over time. The game is mostly about building up your own little empire, but with a heavy focus on your creating and outfitting the perfect army. There are 6 nations to choose from, and each is very unique in how it functions.

GRAPHICS

The game is old. It shows. The graphics aren't super great, but they weren't amazing when it released back in 2008 or so either. They are adequate. Not much can be said. An overhaul of the graphics would make a huge difference, but I'm not sure if that's something that could be done with a game this old.

SOUND

Both good and bad here. The music is amazing. When I started up and was greeted with the old tunes it was like meeting an old friend. I LOVE the music in SAGA. The composer was fantastic, but I haven't followed him since the old days. His name is Panu Aaltio, I think. So the music is fantastic, but the sound effects are kind of not great. It's not that they are super bad, but the mixing and when they happen isn't great. I wish they could remix how they are being done. Some are really great, but others are just kind of glaring in your ears. If you hit charge like 10 times fast you'll see what I mean.

UI

The UI is serviceable, much like the graphics. There's actually quite a few buttons, but they aren't super invasive. There are little tricks and hidden things too, like lots of hotkeys and toggles for various bits and ends.

GAMEPLAY

Ok, this game is more comlex than it seems. At first it seems pretty simple, but by the time you figure in all the items, abilities, formations, and other little bits, there's a ton of number crunching and theorycrafting to be had. You can see that the game has some roots in collectible card games, so the standard realities of that sort of game apply. You can theory craft for days and still not come up with all the best builds. Back in the day there were things that seemed over powered, but there was almost always a counter. Be aware, though, that you're going to probably be a bit confused when you start playing. Thankfully there is a help chat and usually somewhere there to help you out when you're confused.

So basically, there's city building, battling (RTS style - sort of like the total war games), questing, coop questing, loot gathering, tournaments, PVP, and a few other things.

CONTENT

There are a megaton of quests in the game as well. Some are really good, and others can fill like filler at times. There is also PVP (which can be brutal if you go up against someone who knows the game really well, but there is a ton of gameplay and fun to be had in the PVP). There is also just the city building aspect, which is kind of like sim city super-lite. Building takes time, so you can tinker a little each day, do a few quests to gather resources, and then just put SAGA down until the next day.

My favorite part about the content is playing COOP. Almost any game I play these days needs to have COOP (except RPGS) and SAGA allows it for all the quests, which is cool.

There is also some advanced stuff like raiding of other players outskirt territories and stuff, though I know there were some changes with espionage and that sort of thing and I haven't played for a long time so I'm not sure how that is functioning currently. There were some safeguards to prevent players from ransacking your territories to death, but again, you'd have to check on the forums or ask around for more updated info.

STORY

There is quite a bit of story and history hidden away in SAGA, but it's definitely not the strong point You aren't going to see an amazing plotline unfold with great characters and whatnot.

OTHER THOUGHTS

Will you like it? That depends. There is a lot to try out and enjoy in SAGA, but it's old, and parts of it feel really old. As I mentioned before, I'd LOVE to see an overhaul to the engine that focused on graphics, smoothness of animations (I didn't mention those...they aren't great), and an overhaul to how sounds work. But even with how old it is, there's a lot to enjoy. You can spend countless hours developing your empire, questing with your friends, and just having a lot of fun figuring out new strategies and running PVP or tournaments. If you don't want to play with other people, just turn off chat and treat it like a single player game. There's not a great story, so don't be expecting that. If you like card games, RTS, total war-styled battles, simple city building, trading, theory crafting, and things like that, then you may like SAGA. I guess it's free now, and it looks like a legit F2P game, so there's not much risk.

I like it. I'm not sure if I'll get into it like I did almost a decade ago, but I'm enjoying tinkering and reminiscing. Grab a friend. Laugh at how clunky some of the games of the past were, and give it a go. I'd recommend at least an hour or two before bailing on it, but there's a billion great games out there. To each his or her own, right?

7.5/10 in it's current old state. =)